A variety of different modules are used in industrial automation technology, e.g., for measurement and feedback control technology. Operating units for such modules are typically developed for a certain module or for a limited group of modules, i.e., the menu structure and menu functionality of an operating application belonging to the respective module will be stored permanently in the respective operating units.
Use of the operating unit for modules to be developed in the future is thus impossible and instead a new operating unit must be developed in each case, which results in a high development effort.
Modules of measurement and feedback control technology that are used in industrial automation technology may comprise, for example, sensors, actuators, monitoring modules, measurement transformers or other different modules of a plurality of different modules. For configuring and/or parameterization of a module, it will typically have a communication interface which leads to the outside and to which a removable operating unit or a personal computer (PC) may optionally be connected. If the module is to be accessed from the PC, the operating unit must be removed from the module to be able to connect the PC to the communication interface, but this is a disadvantage.